The Impact of Metacognitive Strategies on Fifth Grade Students\u27 Reading Comprehension

American educators continue to struggle to teach reading comprehension to students to whom it does not come naturally. This research focused on exploring the impact of explicit instruction in specific metacognitive strategies on students’ reading comprehension assessment scores. Participants were fifth-grade students enrolled in a rural public elementary school. Pre- and postinstruction data collection included measures of frequency of metacognitive strategy use, comprehension assessment scores, and growth in reading comprehension. The eight month study involved explicit instruction for using metacognitive strategies while reading during the 40 minute whole group reading instruction block, three to five times per week. Students also had the opportunity for additional instruction in either small groups or individually during the guided reading block which occurred daily for approximately 20 minutes per group. Results showed that students who more frequently called upon and implemented metacognitive strategies while reading had higher reading comprehension scores, as well as more growth in reading comprehension